Merry Christmas to All!

Merry Christmas everyone-- to the poor and to the rich, to the vulnerable and to the powerful, to the sick and to the healthy.

Pavarotti & Bono- Ave Maria:


This version of Ave Maria is so beautiful, and so true. A special Christmas wish this year for the families of the 17,400 Afghanis, 894,531 Iraqis, and 5,554 US military personnel who have had their lives taken from them since 2001 because of decisions made by the powerful of our world.

Jesus is a Liberal Democrat

Just in case you're in the middle of finals, and need a little humor...courtesy of the Colbert Report.

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Jesus Is a Liberal Democrat
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It's funny, because as a former Catholic school girl who was forced to read large portions of the Bible, it is shocking to me how some "conservatives" are all gung-ho anti-gay, anti-condoms, anti-abortion, but please God, don't give our tax money to those evil poor people!! Have they even read the Bible?! How often are condoms mentioned in the Bible compared to sharing wealth with the poor and providing for them?

OK...back to the paper writing for me...

Statistics Can Be Fun!

I know, I know....you hear the word "statistics" and your eyes immediately glaze over. But its not all boring! Statistics can be used to model incredible things-- really, they're only as boring as the thing they're modeling. In this case, Hans Rosling demonstrates an incredibly interesting model of the health and wealth status of the world's countries from the early 1800s to today-- and shows how parts of the world are converging like never before. Check it out! 

What's in a Word?

 This interesting article lists 20 words which are virtually untranslatable into the English language. As I learn more and more advanced Spanish I've realized just how many words there are that don't have an exact translation to anything in English. Its fascinating how by giving something its own unique word, there is a whole concrete concept which is created for speakers of that language that those speaking other languages do not possess. For example, the Japanese word wabi-sabi meaning: "a way of living that focuses on finding beauty within the imperfections of life and accepting peacefully the natural cycle of growth and decay". A beautiful concept that is summed up by one word in Japanese, but takes a sentence or more in English to express.

Other words are clearly developed to fit something that is culturally significant, such as the Pascuense (from Easter Island) notion of tingo: "the act of taking objects one desires from the house of a friend by gradually borrowing all of them". If I had to guess, I'd say this act is fairly common on Easter Island, or at least common enough to warrant its own word. But not so much in English-speaking countries (I have to admit I don't really get it....wouldn't someone notice if their friend happened to have more than half of the things they own?)

Other words capture universal human emotion, but in a way which we cannot in the English language.  The Portuguese word saudade expresses "the feeling of longing for something or someone that you love and which is lost".

I think my favorite may have the be the German word torschlusspanik-- meaning "the fear of diminishing opportunities as one ages". I may still be young, but I'm already starting to feel a little torschlusspanik. Plus its fun to say.

Language shapes the way people experience the world and the way they have the opportunity to express themselves. I often wish I had the European experience of being able to grow up learning many different languages (and also to solidify learning with nearby travels the way Europeans can). Just one more reason to make sure American kids are getting the chance to learn foreign languages at a young age!

An Intersection between Psychology and Development

This super-interesting video is based on Jeremy Rifkin's book The Empathetic Civilization. The basic argument is that humans are hardwired to experience empathy, and that this emotion has evolved to include more and more "others"-- and that there is no reason we can't continue expanding our concept of those who deserve empathy to all of humanity, and beyond. Plus, the animation is really awesome.





(From a Peace of Conflict)